the election of barack obama i thought was a very positive statement for the country and moving forward in a way out of a fiscal abyss. i could not have imagined a better time to have been here with all of the things that have happened. >> let me ask you to look back over those 12 years and ask what the high point was. >> when we could work together. maybe the single event that would and body that is the gang of 14. john mccain and i put together six other democrats and six other republicans to avoid what was then called the nuclear option, changing the rules, turning the senate into a smaller version of the house, where the rights of the minority caucus are ignored. consequently, we were able to work together that way, crossing party lines, crossing with the id administration wanted done or what the caucus leadership on both sides wanted done, it showed we had a certain independence. i will never forget the late senator robert sitting in an office with us all together, sobbing, saying, we saved the senate. we came to an agreement that we were going to vote to give a judicial appointees